


Builders League United Official Prom (by Soldier)

by AlexKingOfTheDamned, swimsalot



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Drunkenness, First Kiss, M/M, Prom, Slow Dancing, Team Bonding, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-09
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2018-02-16 17:33:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2278581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexKingOfTheDamned/pseuds/AlexKingOfTheDamned, https://archiveofourown.org/users/swimsalot/pseuds/swimsalot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soldier was appalled when he found out his comrades had never attended prom in their youth. That’s just un-American! (nevermind that the majority of the BLU’s aren’t American to begin with.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Builders League United Official Prom (by Soldier)

**Author's Note:**

> Fluff for the sake of it. I love whole-team fics~

 

Soldier was appalled when he found out his comrades had never attended prom in their youth. That’s just un-American! (nevermind that the majority of the BLU’s aren’t American to begin with.)

 

It started when he asked Scout who he’d taken to prom, and the boy blushingly admitted he hadn’t attended his own because he’d dropped out of high school a year early. But he insisted that he would have taken the hottest girl, without a doubt.

 

So then he asked Engineer, surely he would have attended his prom when he was in high school, he was probably so popular! Soldier was horrified to find out that he’d completely bypassed his own prom in favor of a mechanics workshop.

 

Surely Demo would have gone! But according to him, he missed his School Formal because he’d been caught playing a prank on one of his teachers, and was stuck in all-day detention.

 

Soldier started to get desperate. Prom had been one of the best days of his young life! It’s where he experienced his first kiss, had his first drink, got into his first proper fist fight! Every young man deserves to go to prom!

 

Spy’d never even _heard_ of prom. Not surprising, given that the French are all such sissies, every day must be like prom to them. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve one!

 

Medic ditched his Abiball after only a few minutes to hotwire a truck, and took a number of students with him across the border into France where they were apprehended by a group of police and hysterical parents 12 hours later.

 

Heavy actually had to flee his Vipusknoy Vecher because German soldiers came through recruiting student graduates for WWII.

 

Sniper sort of went to his Leavers’ Dinner, but he never went inside the building. He laid a blanket out on the tennis courts behind the school with an assortment of other students and a box full of home-grown blunts to share between them.

 

And when Soldier asked Pyro, he just got some excited mumbling in return and a lot of hand signs that he didn’t understand or care to decipher.

 

But he got the gist of it. Nobody on his team went to Prom. And that is _unacceptable_.

 

===

 

The team was confused when they each received a hand-written ticket to “Builder’s League United Official Prom” in blue crayon, with “(by Soljer)” written underneath. Along with several crude drawings of raccoon’s heads in brown crayon. On the back of the invite was a poorly drawn map leading to the cafeteria and a time that everybody should show up, ten pm.

 

Along with, “BRING A DATE OR YOU CAN’T COME IN” written in red crayon beneath the map, beside instructions to dress nice.

 

Soldier slipped these invitations where everyone can find them, except for one in particular. He alternates between clutching it nervously and flattening it obsessively in his palms, but the wrinkles are already deep set. He wills himself into the basement lab of the Engineer and clears his throat to get the attention of the other man.

 

Engineer is elbows deep in a new sentry design when he hears the deep throaty, obviously forced, cough from the doorway. It's a sound he's heard far too many times and instantly brings a smile to his face as he looks up to find Soldier standing awkwardly in the doorway.

 

"Howdy darlin'. Is it time for dinner already? Time's just been flyin' since I got started on these new designs. These’ll have twice the fire power of the old ones and a faster reaction time too. See I figured I could recalibrate-" he stops, laughing. "You probably don't care. It'll shoot good, that's all you need to know. What are you doin' here?"

 

“I’ve come to deliver something!” Soldier says, standing at attention with his ankles together and his chest puffed out. He looks nervously at the Engineer’s oil-covered hands, and then back down at his painstakingly prepared invitation. Engie gets the hint and wipes his arms off with a greasy towel.

 

“Whatcha got there?” he asks, holding out a hand for it.

 

Only after a few seconds of inspection of that hand does Soldier hand over the invitation. He immediately snaps back into position as soon as the invite has traded hands.

 

Engineer shoots him an indulgent smile as he pulls the paper closer. Soldier can be oddly formal at times, but it’s rather endearing now that he's used to it, even if it does seem to come out of nowhere.

 

A minute's inspection of the crudely drawn invitation shows that today's formalness is not just another case of Solly being Solly, but rather an indication of a very serious invitation to what Soldier no doubt intends to be a very serious event.

 

"You're throwin' a prom?" Engineer asks, trying not to laugh. Most of the men here are over thirty, on their way to forty, and have no idea what a prom even IS. At least not the American version. The idea is a little ridiculous. But… sweet too.

 

“Affirmative!” Soldier salutes. “It is now seven pm, the cafeteria has been cleared out, and I have decorated it! Everyone is instructed to attend at ten tonight!” His loud, gruff demeanor softens for a moment. “Will… will you come?”

 

"'Course I will!" Engineer says, grinning at his friend. "I'll need to shower and shine my head and iron my suit but it sounds like a real good time. There's only one problem. I don't have a date."

 

Soldier clears his throat and takes off his helmet, holding it awkwardly in front of his chest. His face is bright red, and his eyes are fixated hard on the Engineer’s boots.

 

“You could go with me!” he offers hoarsely. “I don’t have anyone either.”

 

Dell's smile softens and he reaches out to take one of Soldier's hands, prying it off his helmet in the process.

 

"If you're goin' to ask me to prom darlin', don't you think you oughta do it right?"

 

Soldier swallows hard and squeezes the Engineer’s hand solidly. He stares him right between the eyes so focusedly his own eyes almost cross, and he blurts out much too loudly,

 

“Will you go to prom with me!”

 

"Why Jane I thought you'd never ask!" Engineer shouts, doing his best 'shocked southern belle' impression. The look of shock on Soldier's face is enough to make him drop it, slipping into a fit of loud whooping laughter instead. "I'm sorry, I mean yes darlin', I would love to."

 

“Be there at ten!” Soldier stammers, jamming the helmet back onto his head sideways, so the strap hangs down in front of his face, but he’s too embarrassed to turn it back. “I would escort you myself but I have to accept everyone’s tickets at the door!”

 

He quickly takes his leave, blushing furiously, and returns to his room to retrieve his own formal uniform. Whether or not he throws himself on his bed and smashes his face into his pillow for a few minutes is nobody else’s business.

 

===

 

Surprisingly, Spy is the first to show up. He’s wearing a black suit and mask with a miserable expression on his face, with Pyro clutching his arm and giggling through their mask. They appear to be wearing one of Spy’s suit coats, which is unable to button around their pudgy middle and has to be rolled up to fit their much shorter arms, and a pair of jeans tucked into their uniform boots.

 

Spy mutters disdainfully about Pyro stretching out his coat as they hand in their crayon invitations, and the shorter of the pair drags Spy inside forcibly by his hands.

 

Medic and Heavy arrive next, the smaller of the pair in a suspiciously familiar unadormed black uniform, and the Russian is wearing a nicely tailored suit, probably courtesy of Medic. Scout is with them, his face as red as the rose in his lapel, wearing a goofy light blue suit.

 

Soldier argues with them only for a minute about how a threesome is an unconventional date, but when Heavy points out that there’s an odd number of them to begin with, he lets them in.

 

Sniper and Demo show up next arm in arm and giggling about the absurdity of this event, both of them already a little bit tipsy. Demo is wearing his traditional formal wear, kilt kneesocks and all, whereas Sniper’s brown suit looks like it hasn’t been worn in years, and shows off his ankles.

 

Engineer is the last to arrive, goggles and helmet forgone in favor of a nice black suit and light blue tie. Soldier swallows hard at the sight of him, his face going red again. He shoves a rose in the shorter man’s lapel, and Engineer grins at the sight of it. It’s made of a napkin, folded up and colored with a red crayon.

 

Soldier offers his arm and leads Engie inside.

 

The decorations are a little last-minute to say the least. Soldier hung streamers from the ceiling, which are just long strips of toilet paper scribbled on with crayons in all shades of blue to make them festive. With Pyro’s help, he covered the walls with brightly colored crayon drawings of all the mercs in winter landscapes, sledding and making snowmen, having snowball fights and sharing hot cocoa, along with rainbows and fuzzy little animals.

 

The table cloth is actually just a shiny silver emergency blanket, but the food on top – which everyone expected to be inedible – looks like it was actually purchased from town, pre-made. Soldier apparently put a good deal of forethought and effort into this.

 

Several sticky bombs have been spray painted silver and hung from the ceilings, made to resemble snowflakes, going by the rest of the winter-themed decorations.

 

“Ye know it’s August, right?” Demoman laughs.

 

“It’s the only theme I know!” Soldier says defiantly. “It was the theme of my prom!”

 

"I think it's sweet. We never had winter wonderlands in Texas." Engineer says, looking around. He's very impressed with the trouble Soldier seems to have gone to in order to set all of this up. It looks like it took him a lot longer than a day to set up. "I love it Jane. It looks real nice. Did you get music too?"

 

“I did!” he points to a record player near a cleared-out area meant to be a dance floor.

 

“Is zhat mine?” Medic squints at it.

 

“It is! I stole it from you when you were at dinner!” Jane says proudly. “I promise I will put it back.”

 

As it belongs to the Medic, all of the records are classical music, but that doesn’t seem to bother anyone.

 

Sniper and Demo immediately take to spiking the punch, giggling like high schoolers. Pyro tries to get Spy to dance with them, but the dance consists mostly of Spy standing in one spot while Pyro swings their arms together. That is, until Spy asks Pyro if they know how to dance for real, and they impress the rest of the mercs with a mostly flawless tango.

 

At first, Scout defiantly refuses to give his first slow-dance to Medic, but after only a few minutes of convincing, the older man is forcibly waltzing him around the dance floor.

 

Jane and Dell stand mostly off to the sidelines, drinking punch and talking, handling the music and watching the others spinning around on the dance floor. The next waltz Scout shares with Heavy and it's really a sight to see the giant pushing him around in a messy attempt to lead the much smaller man.

 

A few songs in and Dell has started glancing at Jane, looking to see if there's any indication that he might want to dance too. He manages to catch Jane's eye for a minute before they both blush and look down, unsure of what to say to each other.

 

“I don’t know how to dance,” Jane admits, and holds his hand out for the other man to take. “But I do know how to sway!”

 

To the tune of a slow, almost melancholy violin and flute duet, Soldier pulls Engie against his chest and they sway together. Dell rests his head on the taller man’s shoulders, Jane locks his fingers behind the shorter man’s back, and they sway.

 

"This is really somethin' Jane." Dell murmurs against the other man's chest. He likes this a lot. It feels safe and warm and he could do this for hours. "This whole thing, you really put somethin' wonderful together. Thank you for invitin' me."

 

“I couldn’t go without my date,” the Soldier mutters, flushing again. “You were the whole reason I wanted to do this anyway.”

 

Dell pauses for a moment, causing them both to stumble before they resume their easy swaying. They fall back into the rhythm and he looks up into Jane's eyes. "Really? Just me?"

 

Jane’s face lights up even brighter. “Well, I mean I wanted everyone to come! But… you were the one I wanted to bring the whole time.”  


“Why me?” the Engineer smiles.

 

“Well I don’t know- ” Soldier stammers. “You’re strong and brave and loyal and kind, you’ve got all the qualities that good men have, and you fight worth a damn too! I… I respect you. I _like_ you.”

 

Dell chuckles and lays his head on Soldier's shoulder again. "I like you too Jane. I like you a whole lot. There's no one I'd rather be here with than you."

 

Soldier tries and fails not to smile.

 

As the night wears on, Scout the extreme lightweight gets a little tipsy off the spiked punch and vomits on Spy. Soldier tries to encourage Spy to clock the younger man, saying that no prom is complete without an honest fist fight, but Spy just rolls his eyes and escorts the choking younger man to the bathroom to clean them both up, half-carrying him in his stupor.

 

Sniper and Demo at some point slip off to a dark corner where most of the tables have been stacked in order to make out furiously and drunkenly, giggling into one another’s mouths and pawing at each other’s suits.

 

Pyro invites Medic to dance, who accepts graciously and whoops a laugh as he finds himself in the following position of a waltz. Pyro dips the taller man with a flourish and spins him out before pulling him back into their chest with such precision, it has Medic giggling gaily. The flicker of jealousy on Heavy’s features doesn’t go unnoticed, and Soldier tries to feed the drama. No prom is worth its salt without drama, and someone crying in the bathroom!

 

Dell does his best to distract the other man, promising to punch Demo or Spy before the night is over if Soldier keeps dancing with him and stops trying to break up the happy couples. This seems to appease the man for the time being but it's clear he's still trying to catch the scent of an impending fight all through their next two dances.

 

There never is a fight. But Soldier is kept sufficiently diverted and happy, so it doesn’t seem to matter. Pyro takes their turn dancing with absolutely everyone, leading for some and following for others. They seem to be enjoying themselves more any other individual, except perhaps Soldier.

 

Spy eventually returns with Scout, and they reluctantly share a dance together. Mostly, Scout is just drunk and clinging to Spy, anchoring him to the dance floor while he hiccups and sways against him. Spy threatens Scout with severe bodily harm if he throws up on him again, but the younger man is unbothered.

 

Around midnight, Soldier takes it upon himself to assign a prom King and Queen. The title of Prom Queen he gives to Pyro because “you’re the only one who might be a woman” and bestows the title of Prom King to Spy because “you’re the most regal bastard in the lot of us.”

 

The King and Queen then share another dance, cheap costume crowns balanced on their masked heads.

 

The night starts to wind down around 1 a.m., after all the punch has been drunk and they're on their second rotation of Medic’s records. Demo and Sniper are asleep on each other in the corner. Scout is slouched on Heavy's chest, muttering incoherently about baseball and Pyro, the only one with any real energy left, is dragging Spy around the dance floor like one might dance with a petulant cat.

 

Off by themselves, in a quiet corner, Dell and Jane sit leaning on each other, watching the others drifting to sleep or out the door.

 

"Ain't this the point in the night where we ditch the party for a motel room?" Engineer asks, teasingly, wanting to see Jane blush.

 

Soldier sets his jaw. “What sort of tramp do you take me for!” he stammers. “This is our first date! I’m going to walk you home like a gentleman!”

 

"Do I at least get a good night kiss?" Dell asks, pouting a little. "Or do I have to wait until our wedding day?"

 

Jane splutters and jams his helmet down over his eyes. “We’ll see. I still have to clean up here!”

 

“I’ll help,” the Engineer offers, but Soldier quickly turns him down, saying that it’s his prom and he’ll clean it up all on his own.

 

It looks like any attempts to spend more time with the Soldier will be thwarted, so Dell gives up graciously and allows himself to be “walked home” to his basement lab.

 

It’ll be so strange, when they go back to the way things always are tomorrow. When they’re fighting in a war again, and there are no nice suits or pretty decorations or carefree dancing. They’ll go back to fighting and bleeding and dying together and all of tonight’s niceties will become a fading memory.

 

Halfway back to the basement, Jane wordlessly takes Dell’s hand. They don’t say anything at all until they’re at the bottom of the long concrete stairs down to the Engineer’s living and working space.

 

“I, uh…” Soldier stumbles over his words, clearing his throat. “Thank you, again, for coming. It wouldn’t have been fun without you! You’re a credit to prom.”

 

He fiddles with his helmet before taking it off again and leaning forward to give the shorter man a quick kiss to his cheek, and spins around again, ready to flee.

 

"Jane!" Dell laughs, grabbing the man's sleeve to keep him from running. He isn't about to let Soldier get away that easily. "You can't just kiss and run like that, it ain't right. You're supposed to wait until I'm safely inside. And you didn't give me a chance to say good night proper." he scolds playfully, tugging Jane back around to face him.

 

"Thank you for invitin' me to prom. I'm glad I went, now I know what I've been missin' all this time. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't win prom king but it was one of the best nights I've had this whole war," he says, smiling up at Jane. Then slowly he leans in and kisses Jane softly on the lips. It only lasts a moment but he's glad he did it. It's the perfect way to end the night.

 

Soldier sucks his lips into his mouth and splutters out a good bye, saying that he’ll see the Engineer in the morning. He doesn’t give him a chance to hold him back this time as he barrels up the stairs and heads right back to the cafeteria. He’s red-faced and shaking and it feels like steam is going to come out his ears.

 

Engie _kissed_ him. He touches his lips, swinging his feet as he sits on the edge of a table.

 

Gosh, he sure is glad he decided to make prom.


End file.
